"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")

Do you mean "perform sadhana of wrathful yidams?" Or do you mean something else...some sort of "activity?"

Oh, yes, I mean sadhana of wrathful yidams. Ha, ha, no activity here!
I have taken on Daily Dorje Drolo Practice and now I have been accepted to have Chod transmission and teachings. I am concerned that I may need to give up Dorje Drolo to practice Chod properly but this does not feel correct. I will of course ask the Lama, in the mean time I was hoping for input to calm my mind and remove obstructions so I may be properly prepared for transmission and practice.

In Kagyu three year retreats, chod is practiced daily. Dorje Drollo is also practiced as a main practice.
And of course daily protector practices, Kilaya practice......there are "wrathful" practices that are practiced daily.

"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")

Hm I've heard that when practicing Chod one shouldn't do wrathful practices. They're kind of opposites - in Chod you offer your body to all, in wrathful practice you destroy negativity... Though in retrospect I'm not 100% sure how it was meant. Maybe not to do one right after the other, like in the same session.

Although many individuals in this age appear to be merely indulging their worldly desires, one does not have the capacity to judge them, so it is best to train in pure vision.
- Shabkar

Depending on how you do it, and the sadhana in particular, Chöd itself can be extremely wrathful. For instance, it may involve transforming into the extremely wrathful yidam Troma Nagmo. Of course, you don't mix the sadhanas (such as in the case if you are doing a yidam practice separate from the Chöd) but do them in a sequence. In which order you should perform the sadhanas may play a role though.

I am not advising you on your practice, just offering some general perspectives. Sounds like you need help organizing your daily practice. Ask your lama, or possibly a senior student that you trust in the Sangha.

Do you mean "perform sadhana of wrathful yidams?" Or do you mean something else...some sort of "activity?"

Oh, yes, I mean sadhana of wrathful yidams. Ha, ha, no activity here!
I have taken on Daily Dorje Drolo Practice and now I have been accepted to have Chod transmission and teachings. I am concerned that I may need to give up Dorje Drolo to practice Chod properly but this does not feel correct. I will of course ask the Lama, in the mean time I was hoping for input to calm my mind and remove obstructions so I may be properly prepared for transmission and practice.

Hi Swamp,
You can definitely do both.
Ask Rinpoche, I'm sure he can provide you with some insight.

Kye ma!
The river of continuity is marked by impermanence.
Ceaseless flowing of appearance.
Beautiful and repulsive.
The dance of life and death is a display of the vast expanse.
With gratitude the watcher and the watched pass through the barrier of duality.

Yes, thanks to all!
As my Yidam Deity is a Wrathful manifestation of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava my Lama has advised for me to continue this practice.
I will perform Yidam Deity practice first in the morning, then move on to my Chod practice.

I think it's important to note a couple of things regarding Chod and wrathful practice. On the one hand, the wrathful expulsion of demons, obstructors, etc. is the antithesis of Chod. For that reason, you [generally] never see a Geg Tor in a Chod Tsog (the Torma for the obstructors). It's definitely the "feed, not fight" mentality.
On the other hand, some Chod sadhanas actually include extremely wrathful activity. The opening Wangdu Zilnon (Overwhelming with Majestic Splendour) section of many Terma Chod sadhanas utilizes all four of the Four Thrinley, including the annihilation. Sometimes this is indicated with a HUNG HUNG HUNG PHAT!
Take, for instance, the Chod Cham (dance) in the Khando Kegyang, Jigme Lingpa's Chod. In it, the practitioner wrathfully emanates and basically spars with a demon before restraining it and pitching a tent on it. It also advocates for some wrathful processes of exterminating hard-to-manage frightful appearances/demons, if the LuJin alone does not subdue them.

This question has been on my mind a lot in the past couple of weeks. Just found this quote from "Machig's complete explanation" that quite aptly answers the question of wrathful practice.
"Do not beat down, drive out, or torture other beings by instigating harm on hostile, nonhuman sentient beings through charmed substances (rdzas thun), wrathful mantras, or doing wrathful practice. If you beat them down and drive them out, you contradict me and have lost the way of Chöd. On the other hand, if my followers do not tame these hostile demons that harm other sentient beings, it also runs contrary to me. Therefore, the method to tame demons is to give up your cherishing fixation on the body and give your life and limb to those demons without hesitation. That is the way to tame the demons." (Harding, 207).

JinpaRangdrol wrote:This question has been on my mind a lot in the past couple of weeks. Just found this quote from "Machig's complete explanation" that quite aptly answers the question of wrathful practice.
"Do not beat down, drive out, or torture other beings by instigating harm on hostile, nonhuman sentient beings through charmed substances (rdzas thun), wrathful mantras, or doing wrathful practice. If you beat them down and drive them out, you contradict me and have lost the way of Chöd. On the other hand, if my followers do not tame these hostile demons that harm other sentient beings, it also runs contrary to me. Therefore, the method to tame demons is to give up your cherishing fixation on the body and give your life and limb to those demons without hesitation. That is the way to tame the demons." (Harding, 207).

It really has to do with one's lineage, and what the Guru instructs. . .

Contentment is the ultimate wealth;
Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha

The different sūtras in accord with the emptiness
taught by the Sugata are definitive in meaning;
One can understand that all of those Dharmas in
which a sentient being, individual, or person are taught are provisional in meaning.

The different sūtras in accord with the emptiness
taught by the Sugata are definitive in meaning;
One can understand that all of those Dharmas in
which a sentient being, individual, or person are taught are provisional in meaning.

The different sūtras in accord with the emptiness
taught by the Sugata are definitive in meaning;
One can understand that all of those Dharmas in
which a sentient being, individual, or person are taught are provisional in meaning.

I meant that - apart from the obvious goal of attaining realization - Simhamukha's sadhana is connected with averting negative forces and black magic. Does the same go for Throma Nagmo, or is there any other specific activity she is related with?

Kilaya wrote:I meant that - apart from the obvious goal of attaining realization - Simhamukha's sadhana is connected with averting negative forces and black magic. Does the same go for Throma Nagmo, or is there any other specific activity she is related with?

The focus of the most widely practiced Throma cycle today--the Dudjom Lingpa's Throma Nagmo--is the realization of sherab, transcendent knowingness. Great lamas when teaching the public in this cycle, may emphasize the Indian roots of Vajravarahi, the feminine principle in general, the chod, Dzogchen, or the unity of all these.

The cycle, however, contains many different activity practices, e.g. benefiting the dead, healing, wrathful, and weather controlling.

JinpaRangdrol wrote:This question has been on my mind a lot in the past couple of weeks. Just found this quote from "Machig's complete explanation" that quite aptly answers the question of wrathful practice.
"Do not beat down, drive out, or torture other beings by instigating harm on hostile, nonhuman sentient beings through charmed substances (rdzas thun), wrathful mantras, or doing wrathful practice. If you beat them down and drive them out, you contradict me and have lost the way of Chöd. On the other hand, if my followers do not tame these hostile demons that harm other sentient beings, it also runs contrary to me. Therefore, the method to tame demons is to give up your cherishing fixation on the body and give your life and limb to those demons without hesitation. That is the way to tame the demons." (Harding, 207).

Seeing as JinpaRangdrol already mentioned some instances of sparing with spirits I don't think it would be off topic to bring a martial view into this discussion. But I want to specify that I am speaking about "activity." That is to say both ones mental and physical actions, ones view and conduct, which to my understanding are meant to be resultant from ones sadhana practice.

"Wrathful" or hostile action towards spirits appears as a manifestation of arrogance and aggression in that one is clinging to a self that is to be defended at the cost of others. The same can be said of any human fist fight. However maintaining the knowledge of emptiness of self and others the warrior's vow to engage in hostilities... if and when the need arises... can be seen as an offering of life and limb. Thus from this perspective cutting through attachment to ones own body should be seen as the preliminary to any confrontation and should be done "without hesitation"; just as it is said that a bodhisattva should not hesitate to take or give a life for the benefit of living beings. Cutting through attachment to ones self all confrontation becomes the dancing of corpses, the endless play of energy in space and there is nothing to destroy or defend. With compassion towards ones opponents -- eg. the hostile spirits to be subdued-- generated from this view, one treats the the body of their opponent kindly, as if it were no different from ones own. Thus the intent is not to destroy the energy that is ones opponent, but to harness and direct it according to ones own will, as if it were ones own body-- which one has of course already offered up for the benefit of all living being.
This is my understanding of what is meant by taming, subduing and pacifying spirits and demons.
When one can see the two opposing bodies (the chodpa and the hostile spirits) moving as one, they are no longer opponents but partners dancing and playing together, embracing each other and locked in union.

For me wrathful practice is the simply cultivating the willingness to be a mirror to whatever ferocity approaches me. To growl, hoot, holler and make scary faces back at the things that go bump in the world of spirits, and to dance and wrestle with them without fear.

There is no need to expel spirits "wrathfully", but I see no reason not to roughhouse and play "wrathfully."